after months of rain we've just had a few days of real, proper, scorching sunshine around here and it was amazing. clothing-wise it caught me unawares and although i should have slipped right in to some kind of floaty ensemble, i realised that actually i'll probably have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from my jeans. plus i felt like there was enough blinding english flesh on show without me adding to it. also i have terrible knees.

in other news we got the house we wanted! we met the landlord and his family and managed to skim over a minor error made by my boyfriend involving the gender of their baby (!) so we're moving at the end of next month, woohoo! thanks for sending the good renting vibes, they worked.

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

i know at least a couple of you have noticed that there hasn't been a new music mix around here for a while, but don't fret, i've gotten my act together and made one! i wont be making a monthly playlist anymore, you know how sometimes a month feels like a really long time, and sometimes it goes by in a flash? lately mine have been whizzing by. i'll still be making mixes but they will pop up when i feel the urge rather than every month. hope you enjoy this one! you can download it here.

our landlady has decided to sell our lovely little house, so it looks like we'll be moving on soon. i've had such a good year (and a bit) here, i will be sad to leave. i think the cats will too. we've found another house and we're meeting with the landlord soon, so if he likes us i think we'll get it. please send us good house renting vibes! i don't want to get my hopes up but the house is a dream. fingers crossed!

Thursday, 24 May 2012

the other weekend i went to the beautiful city of stockholm, oh my, what a pretty place! i went with naomi, my p&c partner and most awesome friend. we stayed in a lovely little hotel where the room felt like we were perhaps on an old ship..? i don't know why i got that idea but i dreamt that we were on a boat and that a cat came in through the window. um.. weird. yeah, anyway.

our room had all these portraits hung around it, these guys are karl and johan- good swedish names. pretty lighting, pretty bedding, lovely views on the terrace of all the black roofed buildings, naomi with her new glasses case from monki, funny lift warning (look at the poor guy's head), naomi reading our guidebooks on the terrace.

this place was a great little find, it's a cafe and market selling independent designers called snickarbacken 7, we had tomato soup with mozzarella balls hidden in the bottom, yum!

it was beautiful inside, gorgeous clothes, great magazines and music, and the cutest baby clothes for the most stylish swedish babies.

we walked all over stockholm, from our hotel in gamla stan, down to the very cool södermalm, over to skeppsholmen where the galleries are, up to östermalm, we walked and walked and walked. my feet were broken by the end of the trip, i won't even talk about my blisters.

louie louie in södermalm will be forever known as the place in which i had the best salad of my life. seriously, there was avocado, houmous, red onion, cucumber, sundried tomatoes, oh it just had so much yumminess in it. louie louie looks like an american diner but the food is more fresh and healthy than you would expect to find in a diner. we loved it. i saw a display of swedish hasbeens in a shop called tjallamalla and i drooled over them a bit. unfortunately i'm not made of money so i'll stick with my h&m x swedish hasbeens (which i bought in a sale!). we went to weekday, gina tricot, monki (where we spent all our pennies), had teeny tiny pain au chocolat in the modern art gallery, and i hung out with a little gnome fella. he wanted his picture taken with me so i had to oblige.

what i loved about stockholm is that it's so pretty, the water, the lovely green areas, the buildings, the people (oh hello men with beards everywhere)

it was beautiful. especially when the sun peeked out for a few hours. we also went to the fotografiska museum which was awesome, we saw great exhibitions by helena blomqvist (weird dreamy/nightmarish scenes with handmade sets and eerie children) and steve shapiro (stills from the set of taxi driver, the godfather, and photos of bowie, diana ross, martin luther king, very cool).

if you ever get the chance, go, go! it is super expensive but there are still things to do- if you don't mind just looking at beautiful things rather than buying them, you should be okay. also lunch prices are fine, it's just evening meals that get ridiculously pricey. i really hope i get to go back again sometime.

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

look! i'm in elle girl korea! i did a little interview with them about my favourite magazines. i happen to be a magazine addict/hoarder, so this was pretty sweet. i can't read korean (i wish i could, the magazine looks amazing!) so who knows if it makes sense. i did keep a copy of the interview in english though, so hopefully this is pretty much what it says:

please introduce yourself to elle girl korea

my name is ismay ozga, i live in worcester, england, i’m 25 and i’m an illustrator and I have a jewellery company with my best friend called paper & chain.

specially what kind of elements do you like of those magazines each by each? (interview, fashion photoshoots, columns, layout, design, the publisher...)

elle is so fantastic for fashion, it’s full of beautiful clothes, and I always love the covers. oh comely is a really lovely little magazine with pretty illustrations and interesting articles with creative people, I love the whole look. love only comes out twice a year which makes it more exciting when it finally arrives- it’s huge and it’s full of amazing editorials. i-D is awesome for art, music and unique photos. solo is a zine made by the artist lizzy stewart- it's a little illustrated diary of her day to day life and it's just so funny and sweet.

what is the last magazine that you bought?

the last magazine i bought was the latest issue of oh comely- i haven’t had time to read it yet, i’m waiting for a quiet evening!

what kind of culture are you interested in? (literature, film, art, music..)

all of the above! i love books and reading especially.

what do you do at the weekend?

at the weekends i like to go for walks in the countryside, go for a cup of tea and maybe to a flea market, then come home, read, browse the internet and write posts for my blog.

where is your favorite place?

my favourite place to be is at home with my boyfriend and my cats, or on top of the malvern hills looking at the views.

do you like a musician/actor or actress/author ?

right now i love first aid kit, and i’m reading haruki murakami’s iQ84- i’m a big fan of his books.

what kind of fashion items do you usually wear?

i always wear jeans, silky shirts and boots. in the summer i like light dresses and long skirts.

what is your latest bookmark list? (web)

i like pinterest for sharing inspiration, booooooom! is the best website for discovering new artists, a favourite blog is miss moss- she has the best taste in art and fashion. i also like vanessa jackman’s street style blog, she takes really lovely understated photos.

I'm Ismay. I run a jewellery company with my best friend called Paper & Chain. I also do a bit of freelance illustration and photography. I live with my boyfriend and our two cats in London. I like sharing things that I think are awesome.